Choosing Purdue over a higher-ranked program
Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2020 3:35 pm
Hey everyone,
I've been admitted to several PhD programs and am having an impossibly difficult time choosing among my options. A big part of the problem is that my undergrad research experience did little to inform my field of choice, so I've had to more or less make an educated guess at what sort of research I'd enjoy doing in grad school and beyond. I've been learning as I go how best to choose a grad program (Don't choose the school, choose the advisor, I know, I know...). This forum has been tremendously helpful in teaching me what I wish I'd known 6 months ago before I'd even started building my school list, so thanks for all your wisdoms.
So here's the thing. I've identified at least one potential advisor at each of my candidate schools, and my favorite by far is at Purdue. Not only is he fantastic with his students, but he's very well connected, he's on the rise in terms of publications and citations, and his last 3 PhD students got post docs at top institutions. The trouble is that Purdue was one of my "safety" schools, and I almost didn't even bother applying because I really didn't think I wanted to go there.
I know Purdue is a strong program and is nothing to turn my nose up at. I'm just afraid I'd be making a mistake if I chose Purdue over, say, UW-Madison or UW-Seattle.
What do you think? Am I splitting hairs about the relative strengths of Purdue versus the other schools? I know US News rankings have their weaknesses, but they do seem to track fairly well with professional outcomes, at least in the aggregate.
I've been admitted to several PhD programs and am having an impossibly difficult time choosing among my options. A big part of the problem is that my undergrad research experience did little to inform my field of choice, so I've had to more or less make an educated guess at what sort of research I'd enjoy doing in grad school and beyond. I've been learning as I go how best to choose a grad program (Don't choose the school, choose the advisor, I know, I know...). This forum has been tremendously helpful in teaching me what I wish I'd known 6 months ago before I'd even started building my school list, so thanks for all your wisdoms.
So here's the thing. I've identified at least one potential advisor at each of my candidate schools, and my favorite by far is at Purdue. Not only is he fantastic with his students, but he's very well connected, he's on the rise in terms of publications and citations, and his last 3 PhD students got post docs at top institutions. The trouble is that Purdue was one of my "safety" schools, and I almost didn't even bother applying because I really didn't think I wanted to go there.
I know Purdue is a strong program and is nothing to turn my nose up at. I'm just afraid I'd be making a mistake if I chose Purdue over, say, UW-Madison or UW-Seattle.
What do you think? Am I splitting hairs about the relative strengths of Purdue versus the other schools? I know US News rankings have their weaknesses, but they do seem to track fairly well with professional outcomes, at least in the aggregate.